Page 26 of Veil of Blood and Bone

She wheels around and finally tears her attention off the creature. “Our stuff? We have no stuff, Helene. Our booth was destroyed.”

Yeah, it was. The first swing of that thing’s club pounded everything into dust. All those beautiful artifacts, treasures salvaged from estate sales, books…

How hard will it be to replace them all?

Barnes has insurance, right? Because we sure don’t.

I glance around again. “Um. I need to get my keys. Otherwise we'll be breaking and entering our own house. And you should shower. Why don’t you meet us at our place in an hour? The address is⁠—”

“Helene! Look.”

Audra’s voice cracks and I whip around, braced for something worse.

But no, the beast has moved, hardened, crumbled. Bits of stone and rock grind together where flesh had been until I blink and nothing but a small hill of rubble remains.

“There. Your problems have taken care of themselves. Now, where are we heading?”

His voice steadies me. The authority in it, the confidence, does something miraculous to my insides and for a tender moment, the shaking subsides.

“You sure you don’t want to shower?”

“Having the blood of your enemy on you is an honor. I’m alive. It is not.”

“Okay, fine. We’ll all stink up the house. Well, follow me.” Audra spins, going up on two wheels, and guns it through the obstacle course.

“Unbelievable.” I shake my head and pause, glancing behind me to where the man stands. He hasn’t budged an inch. “I guess she’s right. Are you coming?”

Shower. Food. Choices.

Answers.

The order rearranges itself to fit the moment and each step, like a stone skipping over water, casts ripples.

I’m better with a plan. Yet none will come together until I wring some information out of this Viking.

He drags dirtied fingernails across his jawline. “Yes, I am coming.”

“I don’t even know your name.” I wince, scratching my head and finding the one sore spot. I’ll have a goose egg there later. “I’m inviting a stranger into my house. A stranger with intimate knowledge of how to actually use an ax. You’re built like a lumberjack. Do you work in forestry or something?”

For a second, neither one of us breathes.

Then, “That’s my name. Forest. Now you know it, as well.”

“Forest.” Something inside me goes soft at the name. It’s a label. A way to classify him. “I’m Helene Blake. And that’s my sister Audra. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

Chapter 6

Forest

The flash of pain across Blondie’s face twists my gut. My chest constricts, ribs spiking into soft organs. I shift from foot to foot to ease the discomfort.

It’s the look of the lost. The look of someone who has had something irreplaceable ripped from her hands. It’s not the stall, though, or the contents.

“Um.” Blondie glances around again. “I need to get my keys. Otherwise we'll be breaking and entering our own house. And you should shower. Why don’t you meet us at our place in an hour? The address is⁠—”

“Helene!” Concern sends Audra’s tone high. “Look.”

The troll has begun its decay, muscles hardening into stone. With its death, the last shards of vital life force evaporate, returning it to the earth. Pieces of bone crumble until nothing remains but a pile of rubble.